Reshepans
Native to 6072 Reshep II, this is a powerfully psychic people, on par with some of the mightiest transhumans, whose innate psychic abilities allowed them to develop a mighty civilization with practically nothing in terms of technology or modern cultural refinements. Thus, while they appear to be primitive (on par with Stone-Age humanity), their considerable mental acuity and abilities such as telepathy and teleportation, among others, grant them a deceptively complex society under a thin veneer of barbarism. Sub-Races Reshepans are divided into two main races, generally called "Claw Reshepans" and "Wing Reshepans", although there may be other, less well-known groups. Claw Reshepans Claw Reshepans look like hulking, brutish humanoids of a reptilian nature, with their heads, scales and short tails looking somewhat between an iguana and a crocodile. They sport a set of long and sharp fangs on their mouths, as well as the large and vicious claws on their hands and feet that give them their name. Their scales come in shades of gray, brown or green, usually with a faint lighter diamond-like crisscrossing pattern. They also have iguana-like spines (actually enlongated scales) on the back of their heads and along the center of their backs. They stand close to 7 feet tall and weigh about 300 pounds. Wing Reshepans Wing Reshepans look like vaguely humanoid pterosaurs, with a pair of wings consisting of forelimbs with a single enlongated digit, and a patagium (a sort of stiff membrane) forming the main wing surface, anchored by the arm, enlongated digit and the side of the body. These wings have nimble digits at the end of their arms (about midway across the wings), capable of grasping and manipulation. They have enlongated lizard-like faces, with a long and thin mouth lined in small but sharp teeth and a fin-like bony protuberance jutting toward the back of their heads, a short lizard-like tail, and slightly short but powerful legs ending in vicious talons. Their small and smooth scales are a metallic, grayish blue, sometimes leaning more toward gray. They tipically stand little over 6 feet tall, but are very light, rarely exceeding 150 pounds. Language Reshepans (of either kind) do not have a native language, having enjoyed telepathic ability since early in their evolution, which they use to convey complex meaning to one another. They do have a number of vocalizations, which vary by region and culture, that indicate mood and convey a few simple messages such as "danger", "help" and "hungry", and have advanced vocal capabilities that allow them to speak the languages of other races. Since coming into contact with human civilizations, most Reshepans have learned the Abyri, Kaldurish and Semkashan languages. Alignment Reshepans are Collectivists, having a considerable sense of community and societal collaboration, largely due to their innate telepathy. They are neither Regulatists nor Anomists, having a robust but not quite restrictive set of traditional and unwritten rules of social behavior, handed down from generation to generation. Habitat Reshepans have spread to most of their native planet of 6072 Reshep II, with the Claw people mostly keeping to the forests and plains closer to the sea, and the Wing people dominating the mountains far inland, although there are enclaves of both peoples in practically all regions of the planet. Although some have traveled to other worlds, those are few and far-between, and they rarely settle down outside their homeworld. Society Reshepan society is based on a complex web of clans and tribes interconnected by familial relations and trade routes. Their basic unit of settlement is the tribe, usually a few hundred to a few thousand individuals strong, ruled by a chieftain (who handles security, war and justice) and a council of elders with representatives of the tribe's main clans (which determines policy and dispenses and interprets laws). They are also organized along genetic lines in clans, which are extended families sometimes comprising many hundreds of individuals, the larger of which having branches in many different tribes. Clans are led by clan elders, which settle familial and civil disputes (inheritance, marriage etc.) within their clans, and also lead their clans in hunting and other economic activities. There are also many inter-tribes councils of varied scopes and levels of representation, which gather periodically to discuss matters of region-wide (or even species-wide, in the rare High Councils) policy and law. Culture Both Reshepan races are traditionally predators, and their culture has largely evolved around hunting, which has infused them with values like courage, close-knit cooperation and a taste for exploration. They also place a high value on harmony with nature, which (along with their migratory habits) has allowed them to develop a large civilization without over-hunting their planet or otherwise seriously disrupting the environment. Their dwellings are simple and somewhat makeshift, owing to both their short-term nature (since they periodically migrate) and the Reshepans' lack of technology, and usually consist of wooden huts and tree-houses for the Claw people and mountain cave dwellings for the Wing people. They wear simple clothing and decorations, mostly consisting of animal skins, bones, fangs, claws and so on, as well as cords and ropes made from bark fiber. Theirs is a simple animistic religion (see the Religion section in the Society page), and their artistic expressions consist of simple cave paintings and clay sculptures, as well as stories of traditional heroes passed down telepathically from one generation to the next. Combat / Game Stats As per D&D's Guardinals, namely Avorals (Wing Reshepans) and Leonals (Claw Reshepans) Category:Races